TWO passenger jets were diverted off course to help rescue a solo sailor in trouble hundreds of miles from land. The pilots swooped down to less than 4,000ft and used binoculars borrowed from passengers to spot his disabled yacht. The sailor was later picked up by a rescue boat after the planes helped pinpoint his location 300 miles off Australia. The country’s Maritime Safety Authority had asked two commercial jets on their way to Sydney to trace the yachtsman after he sent a distress signal while drifting in rough seas with a broken mast. He was out of range of search helicopters so coastguards radioed the airliners as they flew close to the yacht’s last known GPS location. An Air Canada Boeing 777 already 15 hours out from Vancouver had enough fuel to delay landing at Sydney Airport while diverting to the search zone.